


America Bound

by Lanihaluki



Category: The Unwanteds Series - Lisa McMann
Genre: Drama & Romance, in which Kaylee realizes her feelings for Aaron, lots of kids dealing with trauma, silly misunderstood kids, that au where Kaylee actually finds away back to America
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24411310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanihaluki/pseuds/Lanihaluki
Summary: Faced with the opportunity to go home, Kaylee doesn't know whether to be thrilled or disappointed. After spending a year in Artime, she isn't any less determined to go home. But something is keeping her here, and that something is her best friend, Aaron Stowe.(takes place after Island of Dragons)
Relationships: Aaron Stowe/Kaylee Jones, Alex Stowe/Sky, Lani Haluki/Samheed Burkesh
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	America Bound

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! So it’d been a REALLY long time since I’ve written anything for the Unwanteds, and you might know me as Lani-haluki from FanFiction.Net (I wrote a bunch of one shot/aus for it). Anyway I found this story in my notes from a few years ago so I decided to start writing it again!! 
> 
> Kaylee and Aaron’s dynamic is one of my favorites in the series (aside from Lani and Sam) and so I had to write more for them. Sorry if any of this is ooc!! It’s been a while since I’ve written for the unwanteds but I hope I’ll get back into the swing of writing them. Also, I’m planning for this to be about a ten chapter story in Kaylee & Aaron’s povs.
> 
> Hope u enjoy!

It was finally the day. The day Kaylee Jones would be leaving for home, and her life would change once again. For the better? Who knew.

It wasn't uncommon for her life to change drastically. The whole sailing-around-the-world competition was the start of it. Having just turned fifteen before the event started, she was the youngest, most experienced sailor of her age. That competition had been hard to get in, but it was totally worth it. She'd been sailing all her life, mostly only around her hometown, Massachusetts.

She started venturing further and further with every sailing trip. As she grew up, she started doing week-long sailing trips with her family or friends in the summer. At the age of twelve, she was ecstatic to know she could get her boating license. She knew as much about boats as a normal kid would know about Harry Potter.

When she was very young, she would often blurt out things like "how to properly moor a ship." When someone sailed as much as Kaylee did in her free time, they picked up a _lot_ of new skills. As she quickly discovered, talking only about in school was a quick way to lose friends. But the good thing was, she never did that anymore. Not to strangers, anyway.

For Kaylee, sailing around the world had always been her dream. The idea of traveling to new places, of gliding across the water that stretched on for miles . . . it was all she'd ever wanted. But that all changed during the sailing competition, when she wound up getting caught in a waterfall.

Then, she'd crashed at the Island of Shipwrecks, and her dream crashed with it. She'd never wanted to leave a place more. And who could blame her? It wasn't hard to see why, back then. She was in an unfamiliar place with only her sailboat as a reminder of home.

The first night, she'd cried herself to sleep. Then the second time had been in front of Ishibashi, during a fleeting, embarrassing moment when Kaylee had almost lost hope. But losing hope wasn't an option for her. She wouldn't give up on trying to get out of here. Not ever.

With the help of Ishibashi, Ito, and Sato, they managed to repair her beloved sailboat. The only problem to get through after that was the hurricane. But, her determination paid off. She escaped without getting hit too badly by the treacherous waves or the blaring wind, which was a relief.

Kaylee didn't let herself relax until the skies started to clear, and she sailed off towards where she thought home was. Maybe _finally_ she'd be safe. Maybe she'd have no trouble sailing back the way she came, wherever that way was. And by some miracle, she'd make it back just in time to finish the sailing competition. Just like she'd planned.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

Her sailboat had taken too big of a toll, and it sunk. She grabbed the remains of what was left of her belongings and swam to shore. By now, she was only starting to feel a little hopeless and hysterical. For days, she attempted living in one of the broken ships on the beach, but there was no luck. She had eaten all of her food. And even worse: there was no water left.

So, she ran out to a find supplies, as it seemed there was other life on this island. She had been hoping for maybe some tame animals, only to find a bunch of sabor-toothed, man-eating gorillas waiting to devour her. At this point, she was kind of convinced she was going crazy.

They had chased her around until she climbed up a tree, the leaves brushing against her legs. She let out a breath, praying she'd be safe. But to her horror, the gorillas actually started to _climb_ the tree up to her. Terrified, she did the first thing that came to mind. It was a crazy idea. Insane, even.

But, something made her do it. Maybe it was the fact that she could see the ocean from here, that it was the one thing in this whole place that comforted her. Or the more likely reason was that Kaylee's mom used to sing to her when she was scared. Obviously, her mother couldn't sing to her now. So Kaylee did the next best thing.

She sang.

And miraculously, the gorillas stopped to listen. Halfway up the tree, they paused and looked up at her, the angry snarls fading. Seeming to calm down, they climbed down the tree. As they did, Kaylee fearfully clung to the branches, not daring to stop her singing. It seemed the gorillas had taken a liking to her. That was only one good thing out of that situation, though.

For the first few days, Kaylee was too terrified to even get out of the tree. The gorillas seemed to have held her captive. Every time they spotted her, they looked ready to pounce. But singing, as Kaylee learned, prevented that. It kept her alive, and that was all that mattered. Even if her stomach rumbled, and her mouth got dryer.

Eventually, she learned that the gorillas usually left in the daytime to go hunting. That was another thing to be thankful for. After some time, she worked up the courage to leave the tree and learn the way the island worked. And that's when her plans started.

Just from being on the island, she had learned a variety of survival skills. She weaved a bed out of vines and put it on the tree so she wouldn't fall off. She made sure to jump in the water every day to keep any stinky stenches off of her. She learned the basic schedule of the gorillas and when to get food and water and when to run back to the tree.

When she was in the tree, she discovered that if she automatically started singing, the gorillas would fall asleep. It wasn't the best lifestyle, of course, but it was progress. Someday, all of this would be worth it. She'd get out of here. She just needed to keep trying.

Over the lonely, disastrous months, she started weaving vines together to make a rope, trying to get it long enough to reach the ocean below. But, in order for her escape plan to work, she needed someone to actually save her. And the saving part? That would be tricky.

Then, out of the blue, she saw something that sent hope sparking through her chest. A flying cheetah, with two people riding it. Not even processing the fact that the cheetah was _flying_ , Kaylee focused on her hope. It was all she had ever dreamed of. _Escape_. She ran after them as fast as she could, forced to sing for them to come back instead of yell, out of fear that she'd send the gorillas crazy again.

They left, not even noticing her presence. But that wasn't enough for Kaylee. She needed them to know she was there. Immediately afterwards, she positioned a large quantity of bones on the beach to spell words. It took her a few hours until she finally spelled out her desire: "come back."

It was many weeks later before they did. And this time, it was in a small, white boat. She had sang to them everything that she could, begging for them to rescue her, practically choking out her words and struggling against the bubble of tears that rose in her throat. She was so desperate, so scared, so alone. They promised her to wait.

And she did. Every time she thought of them again, a mix of emotions went through her: fear, hope, and doubt. They made a promise, a vow that they would come back. A promise was something that should never be broken, but sometimes people broke promises, and she wasn't sure if these people would keep her's.

A few days later, they returned and the rescue mission was in full mode. Plan A, Kaylee had noted to herself. She slid down the long vine, attempting to reach their boat. To her horror, the gorilla stampede spotted her and pulled her back up from the vine. She ordered her rescuers to meet at the graveyard at the end of the river. It was time for Plan B, something she really, really hoped she wouldn't have to do.

She ran from the gorillas as fast as possible, dodging their attacks as best she could. She realized with growing worry she couldn't simply run down to the beach. It was too far away, and there as no way she could easily outrun the saber-tooth beasts. She noticed a waterfall that stood at a dizzying height a few feet ahead and headed towards it. On the way she grabbed her surfboard.

Fear nearly made her back down, and she cringed at the sickening height. Terror struck her like a bullet, causing her heart to pound rapidly, making her wonder if she was too young to have a heart attack. But one look behind her and seeing the gorillas barreling towards her, she made her decision. This was the only way she would be rescued. She closed her eyes and jumped.

Almost an eternity later, Kaylee's body slapped against the water, and it hurt, but she could tell she was alive. She sunk in the water, using her arms and legs to propel her forward. She swam the best she could to the shore, gasping for air and too exhausted to say anything. Her surfboard was damaged badly, but she still clung to it and swam as best she could towards her rescuers. She nearly felt like passing out right then and there. Then, a hand appeared above her, and she took it.

The boy hoisted her up and pulled her along with them. Fighting the gorillas along the way, they had made it to the old, broken-down ship. Once everything was explained and the gorillas had dispersed, they made it to the small white boat and exchanged information. The following hours were the most relaxing she'd had in months. She was given borrowed clothes from her new friend Sky, had gotten real food, and had received a new haircut (curtesy of Alex).

The others had seemed really confused about where she was from. She thought she'd explained it to them pretty well, but they seemed to have no recognition of America. They did, however, note there was a map with a bigger land on it. A bigger land that could definitely be where she came from.

Over time, she and her friends had done research on how to get her home. But each clue, each discovery closer to her goal only made her sadder instead of excited.

It wasn't because she didn't want to go home. She _did_. She wanted to see her family, who she guessed would be worried sick about her. But suddenly she found herself thinking less about them, and being more preoccupied with her new friends. Especially Aaron, who had become Kaylee's favorite person in this strange, unusual world.

Her and Aaron had become good friends over the months. Best friends, even. She didn't realize how much she connected with him until she went out of her way to talk to him. She loved being around him, more than any of her other Artimean friends.

Maybe an unpopular belief, but she found herself liking everything about him. The way he laughed when she pestered him with jokes. The way his hair, which had grown out more, sometimes was swept aside by the wind and she could see that long scar on his forehead. And the times she could get him to smile— those were her favorite.

The times he smiled were rare, but she treasured them all. Probably because she wanted him to do more of it, especially after all he'd been through. She didn't understand how a boy like him could've done all the bad things he'd claimed to have done, when she only knew him as he was _now_.

She wouldn't be able to see any of that again when she left for America. She figured it was going to happen eventually, with the way things always shifted in her whirlwind of a life. Artime . . . it was just another thing she had to say goodbye to.

Just like everything else.

She'd kissed her old life goodbye, ready to venture forward and live the rest of her days on Artime. It wasn't easy to accept it, and a part of her didn't feel as excited as she used to about going home. She hadn't seen her family in over a year, and here she was, about to go home.

About to say goodbye to Artime, a place that she'd never quite fit into. Magic confused and astonished her, and everyone seemed to fit right in aside from Kaylee. But then there was Aaron, swimming against the tides with her. They were outsiders. They were the same.

At least now, she could go to a place where she _did_ fit in. Where hopefully, she wouldn't be in danger of getting eaten by gorillas or killed by pirates. That kind of thing. She was going home, back to her family and friends. Back to her sailing competitions. Where she _belonged_.

All good things, it seemed, had to come to an end.

* * *

"Kaylee?"

Kaylee looked up. She'd been standing outside for the past hour, taking everything in. Packing for the trip had been quick and easy. She grabbed her few belongings she'd come with, along with new clothes, food and water, a hairbrush, and a (still broken) cellphone.

She'd gathered it all in a large backpack and had grabbed some books from the library along the way. After that, she took a long walk around the mansion, stopping in every room, and was sad to admit she'd lingered in the music room longer than she needed to. She made sure to say goodbye to everyone she'd come to know and love (although a few of her friends would be accompanying her on the boat they were driving in).

Looking over her shoulder, she saw the very last person she'd wanted to say goodbye to. Her heart sank. Her stomach wound into knots at the sight of him.

"Hey," Kaylee responded, forcing a smile.

Aaron didn't return the smile. "Are you . . . sure you want to leave?"

She didn't hesitate with her answer. "Yeah! I'm sure."

She had never been _more_ sure. She was finally going home, finally seeing her family and her friends. Her stomach twisted from nerves. Why was she nervous about this? Everything would be okay!

"You're nervous," Aaron said quietly, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I can tell, because you scrunch up your face."

Kaylee smiled, recognizing his slightly teasing tone. He had begun to come out of his shell, and she and her new friends had been a part of that. Ever since Aaron's teasing, joking side was finally unleashed, she allowed herself to joke around him more. She knew his past and how Quill had shaped him, although it took a while for her to grasp that his emotions used to be locked up.

"Oh, really?" She snorted, pushing him lightly on the shoulder. He had gotten better at understanding others' emotions, and now could do so just by looking at their facial expression. 

He smiled slowly, as smiling always came slow and less natural to him. "I don't know." His smile quickly faded. "You just . . . don't look too excited about leaving."

Hearing his mellow tone, Kaylee couldn't help it. She lightly punched him in the arm, receiving a quiet, startled "Oof" from Aaron.

"Are you kidding? I'm _very_ excited, Aaron. Especially since I won't have to see you again." She grinned again, making sure he knew she was joking.

Aaron looked mystified. "I thought we were friends. Ishibashi thinks so."

Kaylee laughed. "Yeah, let Ishibashi be the decider of your friends."

"He has great judgement, Kaylee."

"I can't argue with that," she said with a grin. "Lighten up, okay? I swear, if you keep being a Debbie Downer you're not coming on this trip." She nodded amusedly. "That's right. You heard me!"

"Sorry," Aaron said, his face showing confusion. He must've not known what a Debbie Downer was, Kaylee realized.

"Aaron Stowe, you have nothing to apologize for. It's better than being a Negative Nancy!"

"A what?"

She laughed. "Y'know. A negative person. But the good thing about Debbie Downers is they just need to learn one thing."

Aaron looked lost. He stared at her, clearly waiting for an explanation. Kaylee's smile grew as she lifted a finger. "To relax! That's the secret of life, Aaron. That's why I'm here. To make sure you learn to enjoy yourself."

"Oh." He did a little shrug. Even smiled a little, if a bit nervously. "Well, I'm fine how I am, Kaylee."

"Huh! We'll see about that." She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the ocean that stretched out before them. Her head darted to the small white boat, the _Claire_ , bobbing in the water. "Oh, I guess we should go pack up the boat."

He nodded seriously. "I guess we should."

They made their way across the lawn. It was a beautiful day as always, sun shining an endless aura of warmth down upon them, only a few fluffy white clouds in the sky, and a soft breeze coming from the seaside. A few Artimeans were outside this morning, sitting on blankets and eating breakfast. Surprisingly, none other than Crow was sitting on the grass, eating his food silently.

"Hey, Crow," Kaylee greeted happily as she tapped his shoulder.

Through Sky, she had come to befriend the young boy. He was quiet, but — kind of like Aaron, aside from his extreme seriousness — was very kind. Being an only child, Kaylee loved hanging out with him. Sure, they weren't very similar, but she'd started to think of him as a younger brother.

Crow's gloomy face lit up instantly when he saw her. "Kaylee! Hi. You aren't leaving yet, are you?"

She shrugged. "I'm gonna leave when everyone else is ready. I'm all packed, though." She nudged Aaron with her shoulder. "So is he."

"I can speak for myself," Aaron muttered. Kaylee just grinned.

"Are you going to miss it here?" Crow asked.

She felt Aaron's eyes on her, observing her closely. "Yeah, I definitely will! I've called this place home for six months . . . and now that I'm leaving, I don't know. It's so _weird_."

"I know what you mean," Crow replied, turning back to his meal of poached eggs and toast.

Kaylee looked out to the horizon and surveyed the shore, her eyes meeting the white boat which would carry her home. Everything was how it was meant to be. She would no longer be forced to live here. She could go home to America and go back to her old life. Like nothing had changed.

Except _everything_ had. After this, after all that'd happened, how could she just go back to her normal routine? Her normal _life_? She'd been in Artime so long that she'd forgotten what normal was. And with the sailing competition before that, it'd been even longer since she'd spent time at home.

She was older, more different now. And she'd have to explain things to her family, which would be painful. But it'd all be worth it. Getting to go back to Massachusetts, seeing her family again, it'd be _worth_ it. She could deal with telling them what happened when she got around to it, and they'd probably believe her if she said she got lost in the Devil's Triangle.

Calling out a goodbye to Crow, the two friends journeyed down the hill the rest of the way to the boat. The boat was magically anchored in place, which made it easy to get on and off in case it floated away. Kaylee wasn't too experienced with motorboats, and she guessed not many of the people here were. Looking at the white boat bobbing in the water made her miss her old sailboat, which she'd stuck with until the very end — up until it had sunk in the water.

Lifting her bag high above her, she kicked off her shoes and waded into the shallow water. Aaron did the same, lifting the box of food higher in case it got wet. Together they climbed the ladder up to the boat and stored the items in a compartment belowdecks.

"One thing finished," Kaylee said, brushing her hands against each other. "Don't we need to pack up any food, supplies, anything we might need?"

"It's already packed," Aaron replied without a second of hesitation. "Alex said Ms. Octavia pre-stored boxes of food, blankets, toiletries, music and art supplies, tools, and a healer's kit. Anything else we want to pack we can just bring with us."

She nodded. "That's good thinking. I guess we should check if everyone else is ready."

"Everyone else" verified the people who had signed up to go. All of her friends had signed up, but unfortunately the boat could only hold a maximum amount of people. In the end, Alex decided to stay behind after much pestering from Simber, while the rest of her friends decided to go.

They turned back the way they came and entered the front doors of the mansion. People were streaming down and up the stairs, all trying to get to their first class of the day. Kaylee spotted Sky walking down the steps, a backpack on her shoulders.

"Sky!" she called. "Are you ready?"

Her friend nodded. "I was just packing up some clothes. Got everything else?"

"Yeah," she replied with a smile. "What about Lani?"

"I haven't seen her," Sky said in a concerned tone. She looked around the hall. "She could be in her room."

"Okay. I think I'll grab something to eat," Kaylee said. Her heart pounded in her chest. Whether it was out of sheer excitement or nervousness, she didn't know. Probably a mix of both.

"I already had breakfast this morning, so I'm good. I'll run back up and look for Lani."

Sky adjusted the straps of her backpack and walked back up the stairs into the girls' hallway.

"Aaron, want to come get fo—" she began to say, turning to her right. She stopped short when she realized he wasn't there. Huh. _That_ was weird. Her brows furrowed in confusion.

She went to the glass tube, pressing the lounge button inside. In a flash, the main lobby of Artimé turned into the lounge, which only had a handful of people still eating. She walked over to the line for food and grabbed a plate of eggs with toast. Scanning the lounge, she spotted Aaron sitting alone at the far side of the room. She joined him at the table.

"I didn't know where you went!" she said, forced cheerfulness in her voice. Though Aaron didn't answer, nor did he even smile in return. He was staring at a plate of waffles, which were clearly untouched.

She knew better than to say anything else. In the time Kaylee had known him, she realized that sometimes, it was better just to give him space. She knew that his nightmares are always there, always present even when he was awake. Out of all her friends, he slipped away from reality the most.

Sometimes, she feared he'd never snap out of it. The first time it happened, his eyes were distant, his face devoid of emotion. Maybe he'd been reliving the guilt. But she could see he was trembling, so she attempted putting an arm around his shoulder. He snapped, pushing her off of him and retreating up to his room, without saying a word.

After the war ended it happened more often. There were only more memories to haunt him. It pained Kaylee that she couldn't help, that nothing she could do would bring Aaron back from the nightmares he created about himself.

She wondered if being here at Artimé, stuck with the constant reminder of his past mistakes is what triggered him. She found herself having difficulty relating to him, because in truth he was so different from her. She had no clue how to help him.

After confiding to Sky about it, Kaylee realized that Alex was a lot more like his twin brother than she'd thought. Alex's arm had begun to take a toll, and every attempt to get it working again went to waste. He was slowly losing the hope that it could be fixed, only getting more frustrated as the weeks went on.

Lani was having trouble recovering as well. Stubbornly, she tried to ignore the uselessness of her legs until she was forced to face reality. Battle scars like that couldn't be ignored. Not easily, anyway.

Luckily, they and the rest of Artimé were still learning and healing, together. Kaylee and her friends spent many late nights together, having fun, telling stories, and blocking out the nightmares of their past. It was easy to block everything out when they were together. When they were having fun, it was like nothing had ever been bad in the first place.

Kaylee wondered where Aaron went, when he slipped into an emotionless slate and stared at nothing, but she never asked. She forced herself to recall her own worst memories and fears, and it helped her connect with him more. They were both outsiders. Here, they always would be. Maybe that was the one thing holding her back from leaving. Maybe she was afraid of leaving him, because there would be no one left for him to relate to.

"Aaron," she said quietly.

Slowly, he blinked, and looked up at her. She braced herself for any outburst that might occur, knowing anything could set one off. Instead, he said nothing. He stabbed his waffle with a fork and began to eat.

 _Whew._ Kaylee sighed in relief. She bit in her toast. Throughout the meal, Aaron was still silent. Although she wasn't a quiet person, she respected his boundaries by not asking him questions. Instead, she told him about America. About what she was excited to see, what she was sad to leave behind, in Artime. Aaron listened. He always listened.

"I'll meet you at the boat," she said once she finished eating.

She hoped he would say something. Depended on it, even, because this was the last time they'd ever eat together in this room, and she'd wanted him to enjoy it, too. When he looked her way, she gave him a grin. She hoped he'd smile back. Maybe give her a hug or something (not that that would _ever_ be Aaron's style, but wishful thinking).

His only reply was a nod. Disappointed, Kaylee walked away.

* * *

When she got back to the boat, Alex, Sky, Lani, and Samheed were already on board. Simber stood in the hot sand beside the water, talking to Alex about something. Claire was standing beside Simber in the sand.

"You're coming?" Kaylee interrupted, causing the group to turn. She stared up at Alex, bewildered. Somehow, he looked like a different person. Less sad, suddenly. Maybe it was because he was out in the sun, instead of hiding away in his room, trying to fix his useless hand.

"I think so," Alex said. "Sky convinced me and . . . I need to get out onto the water, anyway." He smiled a little. "Some kind of adventure — it'll do me some good."

"Alexxxx," Simber said in a low tone. "I know you've prrroven morrre than worrrthy of taking carrre of yourrrself and otherrr people, but you'rrre the mage. You have to be carrreful."

Samheed, who stood beside Alex, snorted. He pointed a thumb at Alex. "Him, careful? Yeah, we'll see about that."

Alex hit him on the arm. "Hey, I _will_ be!"

"We'll be okay," Sky said to Simber. She who was busy organizing their supplies. "All of us are good at fighting, if it comes to that."

"That'sss not what I'm worrrried about," Simber said, looking at the five of them each in the eyes. "If you makeee it to Kaylee's land, howww will you get back?"

"Simber, it'll be fine," Alex assured him. "The only thing we need to do is bring Kaylee home. We already know there's a way in. Look at Kaylee. Look at Ishibashi and Sato and Ito. _They_ got here in one piece."

"Simber's right," Kaylee spoke up. All eyes fell on her. "Once you manage to bring me home, you _won't_ know how to get back. My home is in America. The trip back from the Devil's Triangle would take _months_. The ocean is huge and dangerous, even bigger than it is here. There are waves like mountains and this small boat won't have enough power to get us across the sea. Once we're out of here, we'll head straight for Japan—"

"Isn't that where the scientists live?" Lani asked, a gleam of excitement appearing in her eyes.

Out of all of them, she seemed to most eager to explore the worlds. Kaylee was convinced that Lani would try to follow her to America, if she could. Just to learn everything she could about Kaylee's world. Not that Kaylee would blame her. The people of Artime only had seven islands to visit, anyway. Her world had _hundreds_.

Briefly, Kaylee nodded. "Yeah. I've visited Japan before on a sailing competition — it's really neat. And _great_ waves for surfing." She smiled at the thought, then turned to the others. "You can drop me off there. All I would need to do from there is get some money and find a plane that'll fly me to America."

"Can you do all that?" Sky questioned. "You told me money is the green paper that is hard to come by, and it's different in every country."

"Yeah, it is. I have to _try_ ," Kaylee said, trying to bottle up the desperate feeling that seized her now. "Maybe Ishibashi still has some money leftover from Japan."

"Okay," Alex said with a nod, his curly hair blowing around in the soft breeze. "We'll stop by Ishibashi's first."

Claire put her hand on Alex's arm. "You've got plenty of components?"

"Yeah, thanks," he replied. "We have a box full of them."

Nodding in satisfaction, she wished them luck and walked through the trees to the mansion.

"Let'sss go back to the topic at hand," Simber growled, looking slightly annoyed. "If ourrr mage dies, Artimé is gone."

"We already know that," Lani said, leaning over the rail.

"You are the backup mage, Lani," Simber said. "If anything happens to Alexxx, you are the new mage. But if you also die, who will take your place?"

"Claire," Lani responded, hands on her hips. "We already talked about this before the war!"

"And if Claire dies, who'd take herrr place?"

"Me," Samheed said gruffly. "Who else?"

Lani glared at him. "No, it'd be _me_!"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Hey, she's only taking your place when _you're_ dead. Unless you come back as a ghost." He wrinkled his nose. "That would be annoying."

He leapt out of the way to avoid a kick from Lani, but both, Kaylee could tell, were smiling.

"Again," Simber said. "I'd ratherrr not lose another mage."

"No one's losing anyone, okay?" Alex said flatly, looking pointedly at Simber. "Stop worrying, Sim. We're not thirteen anymore."

"And you'rrre also not an adult. I am allowed to worrry about yourrr safety, Alex! Be carrreful, alrrright? Artimé can't lose it's mage again."

"I promise I'll be careful," Alex said quickly, holding a hand above his forehead to block out the bright sun.

"We'll _all_ be careful," Sky added, nudging Alex in the shoulder.

Simber stared at them for a second longer before retreating back to the mansion, spreading his wings and flying into the air. The five kids watched him go. Then, they turned back to the ship. Kaylee rubbed her hands together. Was it possible to just take all of Artime with her?

She rolled up her capri shorts and waded into the lagoon. The water was only slightly cold, and the sand tickled her bare feet. Once she got to the ladder, she haphazardly tossed her shoes over the side before climbing up the metal rungs. The smell of sea salt tickled her nose.

"Isn't Aaron coming?" Lani asked, putting a box full of spell equipment in a compartment belowdecks.

No one answered. Kaylee wondered what was going on in his head. Seriously, why _wasn't_ he here? He wouldn't be so lost in thought that he forgot about the trip, right? No, that's impossible! Aaron wouldn't miss this. Not for her.

She was almost about to get off the boat and look for him, but the sound of footsteps changed her mind. The trees and bushes surrounding the lagoon began to rustle, and a moment later Aaron appeared. He jogged over to the boat, climbed up the ladder, and briskly walked past them without saying a word. Everyone stared after him.

"Oookay, good to know Aaron's officially here," Kaylee said. She'd said it loud enough that she hoped he would hear, but he didn't look back. He just walked to the front of the boat, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"We should get going while it's still light out," Alex said. He also looked concerned for his brother, as he hadn't taken his eyes off him. Finally, he glanced back at Kaylee. "Kaylee . . . uh, do you need to say goodbye to anyone?"

She thought about it. "I said goodbye to everyone else earlier. I think I'm ready."

"Okay," Alex said, giving her a smile. Doing her best to hide her growing nervousness, Kaylee smiled back.

Soon, the boat began accelerating across the water. At first, all of them stayed at the rail, watching as the island grew smaller and smaller. But after thirty minutes passed, her friends eventually dispersed to other places on the boat. As for Kaylee, she stood there even while everyone left. Until she could no longer see anything but the island in the distance.

Kaylee watched it, a heavy feeling in her chest. She was finally going home.

* * *

Within just an hour of being on the boat, they had passed Warbler island. They'd have to stay a safe distance away from underwater volcano, but everyone aboard was confident the small boat could take them across without an issue. The sun had risen high in the sky, and the friends were gathered around a table, huddled in blankets to deflect the cold chill the wind gave.

Kaylee was sitting on one of the seats, busy writing in a textbook. Ever since she got here she made sure to write down her daily life, and information about how she got to their world. If anyone didn't believe this place existed, she would give them her book. Just to prove a point.

Some feet away from her, Sky was talking to Alex. Kaylee couldn't really hear the words, as the wind seemed to blow them away. Sitting next to Kaylee on another chair was Lani, who was reading a book about maps. If there was one thing that girl loved to do, it was reading, Kaylee figured.

Some feet away from her was Aaron, who was sitting against the wall of the ship. Every time she looked up, she saw that his eyes were squeezed shut tightly. Whether he was asleep or just seasick, Kaylee couldn't tell. But she knew he was more than a little scared of the water, so it could be the second option. Though he wasn't throwing up, which was a good sign. So he could just be asleep. She smiled at the thought. He looked so peaceful that way.

And to see Aaron like that was rare.

At the front of the ship, Samheed was perched next to the wheel, watching the water and occasionally looking at the gauge in the corner of the small blackboard. So far it had read: _Estimated time of arrival: 9 hours, 14 minutes._

After awhile of writing in her notebook, Kaylee slammed it shut. Impatience rattled through her; she wasn't sure if it was because of how long this was taking or because she was bored. Probably both.

She walked to the rail of the ship and stared out into the glistening sea, breathing in the salty air. Just then, Kaylee noticed something long and dark moving in the water. She glanced back at the other three, but they hadn't seen it.

"Guys," she said, her eyes widening. When no one heard her, she shouted, "Guys!"

"What's wrong?" Sky rushed to her side.

Behind them, Aaron scrambled to his feet. "What's going on?" There was fear in his voice.

"I think there's something in the water," Kaylee said, pointing. That made Aaron back up a little, and under other circumstances she would've teased him for it.

"What?" Samheed raised an eyebrow. "A fish?"

"No, _much_ bigger than a fish."

Sure enough, she could still see the large sea creature paddling in the water. Samheed quickly moved to stop the boat, and within a minute the boat was bobbing up and down, no longer moving.

"Wait a minute . . ." Alex said, moving to Samheed's side. "Is that _Pan_?"

"I think so," Sky said, squinting.

Lani set down her book and joined them at the rail. "That's Pan? Are you sure? It could be another gigantic eel."

"I'm pretty sure there's only one of those." Alex laughed. "But let's find out."

As the sea creature got closer, the group could definitely determine it was Pan. The coiled water dragon rose from the sea, and everyone absentmindedly took a step back. She was much bigger than Kaylee remembered.

"Pan!" Lani breathed. "How are you?"

"Well enough," boomed the dragon. Her voice sounded like a brisk of cold air. "I hear you are going somewhere."

"We are," Alex said, exchanging a look with Kaylee. "We're stopping at the Island of Shipwrecks, and then we're taking our friend home — to the other world outside the waterfalls."

Pan nodded wisely, as if she already knew about this other world. "A word of caution before you continue your journey. Nothing good lies ahead of you. I advise that you turn back now."

A shive went down Kaylee's spine. She swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I have to go back. I've been away from home for too long."

"There is nothing for you back there except the giant waterfall," warned the coiled water dragon. "There is no way you all will survive the trip."

"Way to be optimistic," Samheed said, sarcasm in his voice.

"Ugh. She's just trying to warn us," Lani said. She looked at Pan. "But we need to go anyway. We survived it before."

For a moment, Pan said nothing. She seemed to sigh. "Then I wish you best of luck on your journey."

"Thanks," Alex said, eyes trained on Pan. "Don't worry about us. We'll be fine."

"I'll take your word for it," said Pan, and then she dove back into the sea and disappeared from the top of the waves.

"Do you think she meant it?" Sky asked. "That it's not safe, I mean."

"We are already familiar with how the waterfalls work," Alex said sourly. "If we go over them, we get that effect that Mr. Today installed, the, um—what was it called?"

"Slide feature," Lani intervened.

"Slide feature, right! That means we just need to go past the waterfalls. That way we can avoid the slide feature."

"I hope this works," Kaylee said, wringing her hands in nervous anticipation.

"You said so yourself," Sky said. "You have to go home." She slid an arm around Kaylee's shoulder. "We're here to make sure you do. It'll work, Kaylee."

Kaylee smiled gratefully at her friend's words and watched as Samheed put the boat back in motion. Within seconds, the _Claire_ was moving again, and the group split up to do their separate activities.

After Pan's warning, a nervous tension hung in the air. Everyone knew that Pan had never been wrong, but Kaylee hoped she would be. For once, she found herself wishing that the coiled water dragon would lie.

* * *

The day passed quickly. By the time Kaylee looked up from the book she'd been reading, the sky was dark, with the smallest hint of a faded sun peaking from underneath the waves. The faint glow reflected off of the water, which had begun to get choppier. The friends gathered around a table, each digging into their own separate meals.

"It's feels nice being out here late at night," Lani commented.

"Yeah," Alex said, a sandwich hovering in his hand. His left hand — the damaged one — sat motionlessly at his side. "It's funny how every time I'm on this boat, it's never for something fun. It's always for a quest we're going on."

"That's because it's Claire's boat," Kaylee reminded him. "This boat is _made_ for quests! Speaking of which, it's a little weird we've gone on this boat tons of times, but I've never seen Claire on it."

"Her father made it for her," Aaron spoke up, startling Kaylee.

He hadn't spoken much since they left. Even throughout dinner, he'd been quietly eating his food, not even making _eye contact_ with anyone. Not that he wasn't normally quiet, but he was being, well, even quieter than usual. And more serious, somehow. His behavior was starting to really worry Kaylee.

"That's right," Alex said, who looked relieved that his brother was speaking again. "They used to go on rides. Mr. Today used it, too."

"Oh, right. Mr. Today. It's hard to imagine him being the mage of Artimé," Kaylee said. She glanced at Alex with a smile. "I've gotten used to _Alex_ being the mage."

"Mr. Today had a much better idea of how to run the place," Samheed said with a smirk. "As you can see, Alex is always having issues."

"Because people keep trying to kill me!" Alex said. "I'd like to see _you_ run Artimé for a change."

"Oh, so would I. I'd be great at it."

Lani laughed. "No, you wouldn't!"

"I didn't know Mr. Today that well either," Sky said. "I only met him once or twice." She shrugged. "He seemed friendly."

"Oh, he was! He was great." Alex trailed off, their smiles fading as they all thought of the same thing. He sighed. "I really wish he were here."

If the invisible tension between Aaron and the others wasn't thick already, it was definitely thick now. Everyone fell silent, a hush falling over the group. Alex's eyes widened as he seemed to realize his mistake. An apology in his eyes, he looked at his brother, opening his mouth to say something.

"It's fine. I'm past it. I've come to terms with what I've done," Aaron said in a sharp tone. When everyone continued staring at him, he slapped his hands on the table and stood up. "Stop acting like I'm an explosive! Everyone's always so careful when they talk to me!"

"We don't—!" Sky began, but Aaron cut her off with a cold look.

Kaylee had never seen him look that way. His eyes had grown cold, and he looked at everyone, including Kaylee, as if he didn't know them. It was scary. She had never even seen him blow up like that. If there was ever a time he was angry, he had never fully shown it.

She tried to say his name, but the attempt died in her throat. She watched, frozen in shock, as Aaron ran belowdecks. Everyone was silent, listening to his receding footsteps, which finally led to the slam of a door. No one made a move to go after him.

"What just happened?" Lani whispered, eyes wide.

"Should someone go after him?" Kaylee asked. She wanted to herself, but the probability of him being even angrier was a risk she didn't want to take.

"No," Alex said quietly. "He's just . . . he's in a bad mood."

Sky sighed. "He's really angry, Alex. That's more than just a bad mood."

"I know."

"Yes, but he's obviously going through something. You're his _brother_. You should know him better than anyone here."

Alex briefly met eyes with Kaylee before looking down. "Sometimes I feel like I really _don't_ know him. He's just . . . hard to read."

"We should give him space," Kaylee said abruptly. "I think he wants to be alone." She forced a smile, trying to seem hopeful. "He'll probably come around later, right?"

Unfortunately, her assumption had been wrong.

Aaron remained in his room, talking to no one. Kaylee shouldn't have been surprised. She hadn't been — not for the first few hours. But the hours stretched into _more_ hours. Kaylee and Alex had tried everything. Talking to him through the door, trying to reason with him, but nothing helped.

Aaron wasn't coming out.

Before going to bed, she checked the blackboard next to the wheel of the boat, looking at the gauge in the corner of the small blackboard. _Four hours._ Four hours before they reached the Island of Shipwrecks. Four hours before she said goodbye to her former home, her friends, and Aaron.

And she didn't know if she was ready.


End file.
